CHICAGO – For the historical weight of the moment, it was a pretty innocuous play.
Backed up to their own 11 in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 24-18 loss to the Chicago Bears, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford sent running back Kyren Williams in motion to the left. After the snap, Stafford slung it out to the back for a screen pass in the flat.
Williams went 5 yards and failed to pick up a first down. But with that short gain, Stafford passed Eli Manning for the 10th most passing yards in NFL history.
“Tough to think about it at the moment,” Stafford said. “It’s a humbling thing to be mentioned with a great player like Eli, obviously, who had an outstanding career. I’m sure at the end of the season or whatnot I’ll spend more time thinking about that kind of stuff.”
Stafford entered Sunday 222 passing yards behind Manning (57,023) on the all-time list. With 224 yards on 20-for-29 passing, Stafford finished the weekend with 57,029 passing yards in his career.
The next player ahead of Stafford on the list is Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who finished the weekend with 59,904 yards.
“I was a fan of this game long before I became a player of it in the NFL,” Stafford said. “To be mentioned with some of those guys is a really cool, humbling thing for me.”
Stafford did not throw a touchdown on Sunday, which kept him seven behind Manning (366) for 10th on the all-time passing touchdowns list.
Though the Rams didn’t come away with the win, there were still some trademark Stafford moments in Sunday’s game. He stylishly flipped the ball to tight end Colby Parkinson for a short gain in the first quarter, and threw a no-look screen pass to Williams earlier in the same drive.
“It’s a blessing,” Williams said of being the receiver on the history-making throw, “because I grew up watching Matthew so being able to play with him, share the same field with him, be able to experience the same things with him, it’s dope. I cherish those moments because I love this game of football and he represents football in a great way.”
